Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita Scholars Day Conference Virtual Scholars Day 2020 May 1st, 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Visual Arts Education for Grades 6-12 in Arkansas and Its Changes Since the Twentieth Century Callie Anna Dunlap Oxner Ouachita Baptist University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/scholars_day_conference Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the Art Education Commons Dunlap Oxner, Callie Anna, "Visual Arts Education for Grades 6-12 in Arkansas and Its Changes Since the Twentieth Century" (2020). Scholars Day Conference. 1. https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/scholars_day_conference/2020/honors_theses/1 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Carl Goodson Honors Program at Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholars Day Conference by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. For more information, please contact mortensona@obu.edu. VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION FOR GRADES 6-12 IN ARKANSAS AND ITS CHANGES SINCE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Callie Anna Dunlap Oxner Senior Thesis Spring 2019 2 The field of education in the United States has changed greatly in many ways since its foundation. No longer do students meet in small log cabins with all ages together to learn the basics of a few practical subjects before returning to regular life. The federal government seeks to provide consistently updated standards for how children of all ages should be instructed and have frequently modernized the education system. From creating mandated subjects of learning, such as math, science, reading, writing, foreign languages, and art, raising teacher salaries, and instigating assessments to ensure complete subject literacy, America has shown in many ways that it values education. However, the push for reform concerning STEM education, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, grossly outweighs the support for art education, specifically in the visual arts. State governments also have a part in ensuring the proper education of their young citizens. In the state of Arkansas, the Department of Education, and more specifically the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, has done an excellent job at restructuring its curriculum support and standards for art education regarding content and literacy through the years, but needs to reconsider the number of fine arts credits, specifically in the visual arts, required for grades 6-12. The push for STEM-focused education is important but should not occur at the expense of art education. The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Vision for Excellence in Education is “transforming Arkansas to lead the nation in student-focused education,” their mission is to provide “leadership, support, and service to schools, districts, and communities so every student graduates prepared for college, career, and community engagement,” and their goals include “prepared graduates, student growth, personal competencies, student success, and customer service.” In order to accomplish these goals, the department includes many divisions, 3 such as Legal, Communications, Research and Technology, and Learning Services. The latter is “a team of professionals, within the Arkansas DESE, who support quality performance for all students and share a common vision for education in Arkansas.”1 The Division of Learning Services supports DESE’s vision by restructuring its already existing support systems. A recent change of this type was achieved by creating the area of Curriculum Support. Containing three units: Humanities, Literacy, and STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, Curriculum Support seeks to increase the amount of support dedicated for each of these fields. Before the restructuring, these units were known as the Curriculum and Instruction Unit. Each unit will “oversee standards and course development, professional development, alignment with Arkansas Department of Career Education, state-funded specialists, and other state level support structures surrounding education and policy in the unit’s respective content areas.”2 The Humanities unit includes English language arts, fine arts, health and physical education, library media services, social studies, and world languages, and the fine arts include dance, theater, music, and visual arts.3 The DESE in Arkansas maintains that the engagement in artistic processes created by the fine arts sub-unit “allows Arkansas students to develop and realize their creative potential, explore other times and cultures, think critically and creatively, and enjoy a satisfying lifetime of artistic practices.4 Seeking to prepare students fully for college, their future careers, and their eventual civic engagement, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education guides students on a path toward artistic literacy “by providing rigorous 1 “Learning Services,” http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/. 2 “Curriculum Support,” http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/curriculum-support/. 3 “Humanities,” http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/curriculum-support/humanities/. 4 “Fine Arts,” http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/curriculum-support/humanities/fine-arts/. 4 academic standards in the arts, ongoing training and support for arts educators, and opportunities for collaboration with community artists and arts organizations.” Their goal is to make sure that every student in Arkansas receives a well-rounded education that includes high-quality arts learning experiences.5 In 1966, Arkansas formed a committee to research the importance of visual arts in public school education programs. Stating that “this complex, swiftly moving world in which we live demands the full development of all human potentialities, not only for the adjustment of the individual to this society but also for his very survival,” the committee recognized a lack of adequate teaching of the visual arts in most schools, discovered a deep conviction that experiences in the visual arts were crucial to the education of every child in the state, and sought to create a framework by which educators could develop their own visual arts education programs.6 “Art, in its broadest sense,” they write, “is a way of life, of experiencing life in its fullest dimensions.” Since the arts encompass so many facets, why focus on making visual art part of every school? The powerful effects of visual art on a child can cause almost incalculable contributions to their emotional, creative, and intellectual growth. “Visual art education,” the guide goes on to say, “gives each student an opportunity to use the imaginative, creative approach to many different experiences and then helps him to use with ease and skill the language of the visual arts in order to give this imaginative approach form and meaning.” 5 “Fine Arts,” http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/curriculum-support/humanities/fine-arts. 6 “A Guide to Art Education in the Elementary Schools of Arkansas.” (Little Rock: Arkansas Department of Education Division of Instructional Services, 1967), 7. 5 Reaching back to antiquity, the visual arts as a discipline have existed and served society by teaching students of art about themselves and how to express themselves through art media.7 In 1988, the Arkansas Business Council Foundation released a series of recommendations to bolster the Arkansas education system. Worried that many Arkansans were “functionally illiterate,” despite the 1983 legislature that raised the state sales tax to implement higher school standards, the foundation counselled that “a bold attack was the state’s best defense.”8 The committees involved argued that while more schools than ever were offering computer science, advanced math, chemistry, physics, foreign language, and votech (short for vocational-technical) classes, Arkansas was still at risk as “the level of skills required to function competently in an ever more complex society” was rising.9 Recommending changes in the areas of Curriculum, Teacher Credentialling and Pay, Accountability, Educational Research and Planning, and Business Support, the Arkansas Business Council Foundation suggested that the standards for education should be considered as minimum requirements rather than completely effective. While not mentioning a change to art education standards directly, they did suggest that Arkansas’ education standards should be evaluated and updated frequently, in comparison with nearby states and specifically with the James Madison High School curricula, which required one semester each of art and music education in high school.10 7 Ibid, 8. 8 “In Pursuit of Excellence: Recommendations for Reform of Education in Arkansas from the Arkansas Business Council Foundation. (Little Rock: Arkansas Business Council Foundation, 1988) 25. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid, 27. 6 In 2014, Arkansas’ Division of Elementary and Secondary Education changed the Fine Arts Curriculum Framework, updating the content standards and literacy standards for visual arts, theater, music, and dance from the 2008 standards. The crucial differences are listed in Table 1. 2008 2014 All disciplines and courses have different strands and content All disciplines and courses share four strands and eleven content standards. standards, which reflect the organization of the new national arts standards. Survey of Fine Arts includes both music and visual art standards
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